STUFFED MUSHROOMS WITH SMOKED PANCETTA AND PECORINO

It is like in the olden days here on Lucullian, those were the days when I posted recipes almost daily. I am actually enjoying this week of more posts but to be honest, I am amazed at my former productivity, sure, I didn't always post great recipes and I prefer the way I am doing it now but still, where have all that energy gone? One would think that I had to canalize it in something else but it certainly doesn't feel like that, I would love to be able to store excess energy to use when needed, why don't they invent something for that?



Today's post is a really simple finger food dish that had a certain success here at home, stuffed mushrooms are nice in any form I think, be it vegetarian ones or with meat like here. They are so easy to pick up and put in your mouth and there are so many delicious recipes around so maybe this is unnecessary in a way but still, maybe this is just what you need for your table this coming weekend of celebrations.





STUFFED MUSHROOMS WITH SMOKED PANCETTA AND PECORINO

10 big mushrooms like Portobello mushrooms, cremini mushrooms or button mushrooms
125 g/ 4,4 oz smoked pancetta, diced. You can use smoked bacon too
5-6 slices leek, chopped
1/2-1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
3 tblsp pecorino, you can substitute it with some other type of hard sheep's cheese or some other cheese that you like
3 tblsp breadcrumbs, optional
salt

- Twist the stems off the mushrooms carefully and chop them.
- Fry the pancetta in a pan until crispy, put the pancetta in a bowl but keep the fat in the pan.
- Gently fry the chopped stems in the pancetta fat until any excess liquid has evaporated. Add leek and pancetta and fry gently for 2-3 minutes. Taste to see if salt is needed, I usually don't add any as the pancetta is salty enough.
- Mix mushrooms and pancetta with rosemary, breadcrumbs and pecorino.
- Put the mushrooms caps in a greased oven-proof form and spoon the mushroom-pecorino mix into each cap.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for about 10-15 minutes or until the caps are soft and golden.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES WITH FOUR DIFFERENT COATINGS

Second day of the week and that nice Monday impact is on the vane (now you can interpret that 'nice' like you want, with or without an ironic twist. I love Mondays so no irony for me) and what can be better then than a nice chocolate truffle? I am sure a lot of you are habitual truffle makers but for those of you who have never made truffles, I can only say Do it! It is easy and even fun to make because you can let your creativity loose. Plus you can decide for yourself so if you feel like it you can make hundreds of them in the flavour you like! And maybe two in some other flavour to make someone else happy. And they are so very welcome on your Easter table, I am sure of that.



The ones I have made here are just simple ones with vanilla but you can add almost anything to the truffles, brandy, spices, herbs, crumbs from nice crunchy cookies that you particularly like well you can see the possibilities for yourself I think. And then we come to the coatings, another aspect where you can run riot if you feel like it: chopped nuts, flavoured sugars, cocoa powder, spices - the choice is yours and vast here as well. As you can see, I used five different coatings here, crushed pink peppercorns, small silver balls, plain confectioner's sugar, cinnamon and confectioner's sugar and plain cocoa powder. I was going to use my basil sugar but I just forgot all about it. Next time.





CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES WITH FOUR DIFFERENT COATINGS
15-20 truffles

truffles:
200 g dark quality chocolate of your choice
150 ml/0,63 cup fresh cream
1 vanilla pod (you can substitute this with any of the suggestions I mention above)

coatings, use them all, use one or go for my suggestions above:
cocoa powder, sifted
confectioner's sugar, sifted
confectioner's sugar + ground cinnamon, sifted
crushed pink peppercorns
small silver balls, the ones you use to decorate cakes

- Break or chop the chocolate into small pieces and put it all in a bowl.
- Put the fresh cream in a small pan. Divide the vanilla pod and scrape out all the seeds that you add to the cream.
- Heat up the cream to boiling point and then pour it over the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and leave it over-night to settle down in room temperature.
- Put the coatings you want to use on individual plates.
- Use a teaspoon to take a small amount of chocolate, roll it with your cold hands (I usually cool them down in cold water in between truffles) and then roll it in the desired coating until covered.
- Eat!

ITALIAN STYLE SHEPHERD'S PIE

I feel good. I am surfing on a big feel good wave because I mowed the lawn yesterday and because it was such a feat, I think I will live on it for the rest of the week. Or until it has to be done again. The sudden explosion of Spring here has turned all growing things into something out of a sci-fi scenario, the speed of growth is pretty scary and in a few days the lawn turned into a rainforest and I did contemplate using a machete at one point (you can see it in the background in the flower photo, n.b. that that was in its early stages and not the worst part of it) but went for the more traditional lawnmower that coughed and hiccuped its way through the jungle. But it does look like a real lawn now, I have to pop out and look at it now and then just to relish in having one.



This pre-Easter - Passover week (include all the other holidays that I am ignorant of in my western civilization/Christianity blindness) I will post more recipes because I thought that maybe you are like me, often on the lookout for some nice food to include on the holiday menu. Today we have an Italian style Shepherd's Pie that looks a bit more festive if you serve it in smaller or single portions like her and considering that Easter is early this year, we can need a bit of comfort food when the weather changes from sun and warmth to icy winds. And this is such a comforting dish that I would be happy to eat far more often than I do.





ITALIAN STYLE SHEPHERD'S PIE
4-6 servings

400 g/ 14 oz minced meat, beef or lamb
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
200 g/ 7 oz cooked spinach

4 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 tblsp flour
400 ml/ 1,7 cup stock
100 ml/ 0,42 cup tomato sauce

400-500 g/ 14-17,6 oz potatoes
chopped fresh herbs
4-5 tbslp parmesan cheese, freshly grated

- Peel and boil the potatoes, if you want a thicker layer of mashed potatoes on top, just cook more of them.
- While the potatoes boil, start frying the vegetables gently in a pan or skillet. When they are soft, add the minced meat and fry gently until completely cooked. Add salt.
- Mix olive oil and flour and then fry it in a pan for 2 minutes then add stock and let it simmer until it has thickened.
- Add the sauce to the meat and stir well.
- Mash the potatoes, add the herbs and the parmesan. I usually add a bit of water or milk to make it less stodgy.
- Grease an oven-proof form and make a layer of all the meat, then put a layer of cooked spinach on top and finish with a layer of potatoes.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) or about 30 minutes or until golden.

Sunday links and photos

My Sundays have been lazy as far as posting links goes but here we go again:

I got this one from Dancingmorganmouse (thank you) and I just have to post it because I think it is really important reading for us who food blog and read food blogs (though it is not directed towards that target), we need to see a bit further sometimes.

Sara have an interesting post over at When I Have Time, maybe something for you?

Finally! I just wish they did it down here too! And this is nice too.

I love creativity!

Just to scare you a bit. But after my youngest daughter had salmonella as a small child, I do think more about this.

I do so enjoy it when people enjoy themselves, like this guy evidently does!

One is smarter than the other.

I have got this strange longing for drinks and cocktails lately (sadly I just long and never drink any), if you are like me, here are the latest ingredients!

SAFFRON YOGHURT WITH GINGER, BANANA, WALNUTS AND MINT

It was the old banana problem that 'forced' me to make this dish, you know how everyone eat a lot of bananas and they don't seem get enough of them so you decide to buy a lot of bananas with the consequence of no one eating bananas any more. Never fails.



So here I was with too many bananas getting old too fast and as I'm pretty fed up with banana bread and banana cakes right now, it had to be this. I posted a spicy saffron yoghurt recipe ages ago and have since forgotten about it but when I was standing there looking into my spice box, I suddenly remembered its goodness and decided to make another one but this time with bananas that I fried with fresh ginger, walnuts and chopped mint. So here we are, my solution to the good old banana problem





SAFFRON YOGHURT WITH GINGER, BANANA, WALNUTS AND MINT

500 ml/2,1 cup creamy natural yoghurt
saffron, I think 0,5 g/0,017 oz, about a pinch, is enough but you can adjust it to your won taste
honey, optional
2-3 bananas
a good chunk of fresh ginger
a small handful walnuts, chopped or crushed
10-15 mint leaves, finely chopped
butter

- Mix yoghurt and saffron well and leave to rest. You can add a tsp of honey to make the yoghurt sweeter if you feel like it.
- Slice or dice the bananas, I suggest you slice them, it will look nicer, and chop the ginger finely.
- Melt butter in a pan and fry the banana with the ginger on medium-high heat, when they are a bit golden, add walnuts and mint leaves and stir. Leave to cool down if you want.
- Put yoghurt in small bowls or in glasses, top with the banana mix and serve

EGGS EN COCOTTE WITH PINK PEPPERCORNS

Easter is looming on the horizon, looming is not really the right word, at least not for me, because I love Easter, I have so many bright memories of past Easters that I feel forever affectionate to Easter. Maybe I should have written 'is soon here' or 'can be seen on the horizon'. Anyway, we all know what Easter means food wise, eggs, eggs and eggs. And a few other things but this symbol of new life and fertility does fit in so well in Springtime (yes I know that wasn't HC (hemispherically correct) but I'm doing it anyway) when we are right in a middle of an almost scandalous explosion of beauty and fertility.





So I am proposing an egg dish today, Eggs en Cocotte (which is a horrible mix of languages but I have already been non-HC so I can just continue down the slope of disarray and sloppiness, I've already got a good start today) with pink peppercorns. I do love pink peppercorns, they have this nice fruity taste that goes well with both savoury and sweet dishes and let's not disregard the fact that they look pretty too!





EGGS EN COCOTTE WITH PINK PEPPERCORNS
2 servings

2 eggs
40 ml/0,17 cup fresh cream
1 tblsp pink peppercorns
fresh chives, finely chopped
fried bread stick/fingers
salt

- Crush the pink peppercorns in a mortar and add them to the fresh cream.
- Butter two small ramekins and carefully crack an egg into each of them.
- Carefully spoon the cream into the ramekins, preferably without covering the egg yolk.
- Put the ramekins into a small oven-proof pan or tray that you have filled with hot water.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 7-10 minutes, even more, it depends on how wide the ramekin is and how firm you want the eggs. And your oven too.
- Serve with fried or toasted bread sticks.

LEEK RISOTTO WITH HERB MARINATED MUSHROOMS AND SARDINIAN PECORINO

It is time to get back on a more ordered track here on Lucullian, I have been a bad blogger but what can you do when Inspiration just don't want to make an appearance? But now I have re-charged a bit and ideas are beginning to seep in again, nothing grand but at least food that I personally would like to eat and as I cannot be that unique in this world, I hope you too would like to eat it!



Even though I don't like when things like this happens, I mean when you go through a big blank period, I do appreciate that my mind and body are so much wiser and sensible than I am, I tend to go on, usually out of duty or because I feel guilt or pressure or some other unnecessary and useless feeling, when I really just should take a break and do what I once upon time used to do, tell myself that it is time for a break and force myself to just let go of things for 4-5 days. I was wiser then. And without a family, if you know what I mean.



Leek is a great ingredient in savoury dishes, it has such a mild but pronounced flavour and you can decide for yourself how pronounce you want it to be by either using the white or the green part, in this dish I have used the greener part as I wanted the risotto to have a more pronounced taste of leek. This is the type of dish that you can serve for dinner because it doesn't take that long to make and you can serve at a dinner party because it tastes great, the leek and rice is a nice background to the herbs and slightly tangy mushrooms and I think it looks quite nice too!





LEEK RISOTTO WITH HERB MARINATED MUSHROOMS AND SARDINIAN PECORINO

4 servings

500 g/ 17.64 oz Arborio or Carnaroli rice
the green part of a large leek
15-20 mushrooms, I used simple button mushrooms
4 filled tsp of fresh herbs, finely chopped. I used rosemary, thyme, mint and some new lavender shots but you can vary the selection like you want
1 lemon
Italian cheese, I used a lovely aged Sardinian pecorino but you can use Parmesan or Grana Reggiana if you want
2000 ml/approx. 8 cups good chicken or vegetable stock
extra-virgin olive oil

- Before you start on the risotto, begin with the mushrooms: slice the mushrooms and fry them until golden in a little olive oil. Put them in a bowl, add herbs, the grated zest of the lemon and a squeeze of lemon juice. Salt and mix well and then leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes (which is the time it will take you to make the risotto). If needed, add a little more olive oil.
- Make the risotto: slice the leek finely and cook it slowly in olive oil (if you don't have a high-quality one, use butter because olive oil that isn't tasting good will destroy the taste of the risotto) for a couple of minutes. Add the rice and keep on cooking and stirring for 2-3 minutes until you are sure the rice grains are properly covered with the fat.
- Begin to add the first couple a ladles of stock and then go on cooking, stirring all the time until the rice has absorbed the liquid and it is time to add the next ladle of stock. And this is how you have to go on until the rice is cooked and the risotto is creamy but not runny, adding ladle after ladle, always stirring.
- When the risotto is ready, add the cheese that you have grated, the stronger flavour of the cheese, the less you add - use your taste buds!
- Serve with the mushrooms on top, drizzle the left-over herb oil and top with flakes of pecorino.

POTATO SALAD WITH ROSEMARY ROASTED FENNEL AND CREAMY MUSTARD AND HONEY DRESSING

Spring makes me think in new ways and I have now been thinking about potato salad for a while. Potato salad makes me think spring and it makes me think summer for some reason but I wanted to do a 'last of the winter potato salad' so I used fennel because here in Italy it is a winter-spring vegetable, well at least to me, after a long winter I usually don't buy fennel even though it is available in spring (and now I am talking about the calendar one, not the one I apply as soon as I can feel spring in the air) so to me it is definitely a vegetable for the colder season. But to make it a more interesting ingredient in a potato salad, I roasted it with a little rosemary and extra-virgin olive oil and made a creamy mustard and honey dressing for the whole thing. I loved it and I hope you will love it too!





POTATO SALAD WITH ROSEMARY ROASTED FENNEL AND CREAMY MUSTARD AND HONEY DRESSING
2-3 servings

salad:
6 medium potatoes
1 large fennel bulb
the white part of a small leek
rosemary, finely chopped
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

dressing:
1 tblsp Dijon mustard, I used whole-grained
1 tsp honey
1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tblsp sunflower oil or some other mildly flavoured type
4 tblsp fresh cream

- Trim the fennel bulb and then cut it it into thin wedges. Put them in an oven-proof form, sprinkle them with salt and pinch or two of chopped rosemary and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 15-20 minutes or until they are soft and slightly golden.
- Boil the potatoes in salted water and cut them into pieces when ready. Slice the leek thinly and add to the potatoes in a bowl.
- Mix the ingredients for the dressing.
- Add the fennel wedges to the salad and drizzle the dressing all over it. Mix well.

Back! The London Report

I have to confess that I didn't take many photos in London but I am full of mental images! We had a great time, walking, talking and walking, going to places from the past and to completely new ones thus making the whole trip a completely new experience to remember. The hotel was great, stylish and very clean but with small, essential rooms and with a green policy that I think is great as well. It was good to retire there in the evenings and I even got to see Julie and Julia, I didn't feel like seeing it but I am happy I did because the parts with Meryl Streep are so good, both because she is a good actress but also because Julia Child is/was such an inspiring person. The food blog parts I didn't like, I found them boring and I wish they had just made a film about Julia Child instead, it would have gained a lot from that in my eyes. See, I did find something to complain about.



I managed to meet up with an old food blogging friend, Johanna from thepassionatecook, a truly lovely woman who I hope to meet soon again! Maybe we will if the logistics over here work because there is a European food blogger's conference 4-6 June in London.



But we didn't only walk, we ate and drank as well. My birthday dinner (because this was a birthday gift trip) was at a really nice restaurant, About Thyme. Good food for very reasonable prices in a nice place and above all, incredible service, they made us feel as if we were dining in a three star restaurant! It was a memorable evening. I also spent enjoyable hours sipping cocktails in the Aethenaum hotel in Mayfair with K and a very old friend that I hadn't seen for 20 years but it was as if we had met yesterday, that is how it is with true friends I find, you just go on where you left it.



Yesterday I was supposed to meet up with the food photographer Marie-Louise Avery (who I regard a bit like my guru) in her studio but I, my stupid twit, forgot her mobile number and I couldn't get into my email account from the hotel so I did some sentimental walking on my own in the basking spring sun. And then I went home and it is so nice to back with my family. And with you too!

ORANGE DRENCHED SPONGE CAKE DESSERT WITH YOGHURT AND WHIPPED CREAM

I really shouldn't be sitting here in front of the computer but start thinking about what to bring with me tomorrow on my London trip, it still seems so unreal that I haven't really planned anything much. And let's not forget there is a general strike on tomorrow which means that I have no idea when I will go; the silly thing is that I have been worrying about British Airlines going on strike and then the strike is here in Italy instead. Typical. But as many other things here in Italy, strikes tend to be unorganized or maybe it is the systematic Swede in me who thinks that when there is a strike going on, it should be total and not spread out in flecks. I am obviously a totalitarianist if that is something you can be and I blame it on my roots, a certain rigid edge that has been softened after many years in Italy (and I am grateful for that).



This is a dessert I made some time ago when I had lots of oranges and a sponge cake on the dry side, I wanted to use them both and in order to avoid that it got too sweet, I decided to mix whipped cream with a nice thick yoghurt that gave it a nice twist. This is a recipe sketch and you can add and subtract ingredients to make it suit your taste.





ORANGE DRENCHED SPONGE CAKE DESSERT WITH YOGHURT AND WHIPPED CREAM

freshly squeezed orange juice
honey or sugar
sponge cake, better if it is a bit dry
fresh cream
nice full fat natural yoghurt
chopped walnuts

- Cut the sponge cake into pieces, finger style is a good form.
- Put orange juice and honey in a small pan, 2/3 juice to 1/3 honey, and simmer until it has thickened and become syrupy. Leave to cool down a little.
- Whip the cream until it folds nicely, not to firm as it makes it difficult to mix with the yoghurt. Add the yoghurt (50/50 of cream and yoghurt) and whisk another 15 seconds until it has blended nicely.
- Soak the sponge fingers in the orange syrup and put a layer in a bowl or small bowls, then add some of the whipped cream before you put another of couple of sponge fingers in the bowl. Top with a generous dollop of whipped cream, sprinkle chopped walnuts over and finish it with a drizzle of orange syrup.

PIZZETTE WITH CAULIFLOWER, TOMATOES AND OREGANO

I have forgotten to tell you that I'm leaving for a short and intense weekend in London on Friday afternoon. It is going to be a sentimental journey even though I know that so much is changed since I used to haunt the city and above all, I have changed in certain ways, the way we do when we get older and supposedly wiser. I'm meeting up with one of my best friends and we are just going to float around, look and meet old friends. I think there is a risk that I find some new food props and maybe even some ingredient that I can't find here. I won't even try out any special restaurants, I just want to paddle along and see what happens! I will bring my camera so that I can tell you about the trip and what I see.



Today we are having more cauliflower, it is such a lovely vegetable but if you belong to the gang of detractors, you can substitute with something else. Well we can all do this actually, pizzette can be varied until the end of time, they are like the universe - they never end! So see this like the impetus to making more and merrier variations on the pizzette theme!






PIZZETTE WITH CAULIFLOWER, TOMATOES AND OREGANO

pizza dough, you can either make it yourself or buy it ready-made
cauliflower
tomatoes
dried oregano
chili pepper (optional)
garlic (optional)
grated cheese, I used caciocavallo but you can use mozzarella
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Divide the cauliflower curds into small pieces and chop the tomatoes, I recommend 2/3 cauliflower and 1/3 tomato as proportions.
- Heat up garlic and chili pepper in some olive oil. Add cauliflower and tomatoes, salt a bit and leave to cook slowly on low heat until soft and preferably a little golden.
- Roll out the pizza dough thinly and then take out rounds with a cookie cutter or a glass, I find that the size 10 cm/4 in works for me.
- Put the pizzette on a greased or floured baking sheet and then spoona small amount of cauliflower on each of them, sprinkle with grated cheese or diced mozzarella.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 7-10 minutes but you better keep an eye on them to be sure.